Nigeria’s currency on Thursday strengthened marginally by 0.02 percent at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) forex window despite drop in dollar supply.
The naira appreciation was attributed to moderation in demand for dollars by the end users. The daily foreign exchange market turnover declined by 33.88 percent to $98.20 billion on Thursday from $148.54 million recorded on the previous day.
After trading on Thursday, the market closed with the dollar being quoted at N409.67k as against N409.75 quoted on Wednesday at the I&E window, data from the FMDQ indicated.
Currency traders who participated in the trading on Thursday maintained bids at between N394.00k and N412.00k/$.
At the black market and Bureau De Change (BDC) segment of the foreign exchange market, Naira remained unchanged at N485 per dollar.
Over 5,000 BDC operators across the country received dollar disbursement from the central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) after funding their account on Wednesday. The CBN sells $10,000 twice daily to the BDCs.
At the money market, the Nigerian Treasury Bills secondary market closed on a negative note on Thursday with average yield across the curve increasing by 21 bps to close at 3.34 percent from 3.13 percent on the previous day, a report from FSDH Research noted.
The average yields across short-term and medium-term maturities widened by 46 bps and 35 bps, respectively. However, the average yield across long-term maturities closed flat at 4.43 percent. Yields on 4 bills advanced with the 1-Jul-21 maturity bill recording the highest yield increase of 177 bps, while yields on 15 bills remained unchanged.
Moreover, the CBN held its scheduled Primary Market Auction on March 17, selling NT-Bills worth N61.89 billion (approx N14.82 billion more than the offered amount of N47.07 billion) across the 91-day (N2.52 billion), 182-day (N5.91 billion), and 364-day (N53.46 billion) tenors.
The stop rates for the 91-day and 182-day tenors remained unchanged at 2.00 percent and 3.50 percent, respectively. However, the stop rates for 364-day tenor cleared higher at 7.00 percent (+50 bps). The auction was oversubscribed by 148 percent, with bid-to-cover ratios settling at 4.49x (91-day), 1.27x (182-day), and 2.68x (364-day).
The Overnight (O/N) rate decreased by 0.75 percent to close at 12.75 percent as against the last close of 13.50 percent, and the Open Buy Back (OBB) rate decreased by 0.17 percent to close at 12.50 percent from 12.67 percent on the previous day.
